Parts of my PCF translated file into AutoPIPE have piping that is not connected, why?
Examples of disconnected piping:
The initial guess for issues like this would be to review both the original model in the application that created the PCF file an the exported PCF file looking for disconnects
After importing the file into AutoPIPE, the user can easily identify locations were piping was not correctly connected (see examples of pipe disconnects above). Knowing these locations, now open the original model in the application that generated the given PCF file, and review the same locations for potential connection issue. Confirm that the piping and components are correctly configured. After confirming the original model is correct, export a new PCF file and try to open in AutoPIPE. If problems persist, see next section on how to review the PCF file.
Start by importing the model into AutoPIPE and locate a problem location in the model.
Select one of the node points (ex. 5) adjacent to the location of interest.
Then using the Point Tab on AutoPIPE's input grids, where the current point should have already been highlighted (as shown below), identify the global X, Y, and Z coordinate values:
Note: typically the PCF coordinates units are English - Inches or Metric - mm. Change the General Model Options Input Unit file as needed.
Now, open the PCF file in any text editor program (ex. Ultra Edit, NotePadd++, MS word, etc..) and search for the coordinate location (ex. Global X = 116500.00, just search for the whole number only with out the decimals)
Note: Recall from previous WIKI page the PCF file coordinate format:
Searching the PCF file located a number of occurrences,
Go to each line that starts with End-Point and confirm the Y and Z coordinates are a close match (note - do not be concerned about an exact match, ignore decimal values)
Once the Line number has been identified, go to that point in the PCF file (ex. line 82), Note that the coordinates are a very close match.
A PCF file Components are connected based on the exact coordinates in the file.
Example:
Most components in a PCF file have 2 end points, PIpe in image above on line 80. Highlight all the End-Point coordinate values (58045.7223 116500.0113 62052.9687), and search for this text string. In this example the search only found one occurrence, meaning that nothing else in this file is connected in this direction of the pipe. Try going the other direction on the pipe. Again, highlight End-Point coordinates on line 81 of the pipe element (58164.5176 116342.3645 62052.9687) and search the entire file for all occurrences of this text string.
This search turned up 4 connected components
Go to each line to see what they are:
Progress through the PCF file search for coordinate text strings as needed to see how the components are connected. Again, if the search returns only 1 occurrence, then that is the End of connected segments in that direction. One may need to go back to the AutoPIPE model to get a new coordinate value to use in searching the PCF file.
Let us consider the other side of the break location, back In AutoPIPE, select node point (ex. 6, from image above), use Global X coordinate value (ex. 116505) to search the PCF file.
This search string only occurred 2x in this file.
Review each occurrence to determine which one is correct:
In this case, the components are a End-Position-Null and Bend
Once more, highlight the coordinate values ( 58041.2693 116505.9206 62051.2295) and search the entire file for all occurrences
This search only found 2 hits:
These are the same as image above. Consequently, there are no more connected components in this direction.
By reviewing the PCF file and AutoPIPE translated model, one can clearly see that the components:
AutoPIPE Node point: 5 & 6
PCF file Line numbers: 80 & 128
are not connected. Possible causes are problems in modeling located in the original program or problems in the translator used to generate the PCF file. AutoPIPE will import components exactly as they are formatted in the PCF file. If there are missing components or pipe breaks in the PCF file then that is exactly what will be replicated into AutoPIPE. If the PCF file was found to have problems, users are then urged to contact technical support from the original application to ensure a properly generated PCF file.
Possible workaround, AutoPIPE does have a tolerance factor to join disconnected elements (PCF translator: Tools> Settings> Tolerance), Adjust this value as needed, but be forewarned that this tolerance will be applied to the entire model and may join node points that should not be joined. Sometimes, better to make manual fixes inside of AutoPIPE instead of using the Tolerance factor, while other times better to use the Tolerance factor. This may be an iterative approach. Regardless, thoroughly review the model if using the tolerance factor.
Bentley AutoPIPE